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EU Priorities 2020

EXCLUSIVE: The EU is failing to create a circular economy that boosts resource efficiency and protects the environment, an influential report has found, piling pressure on the European Commission to deliver a strong replacement for the package of waste, incineration, landfill and recycling laws it controversially axed as part of its drive for "better regulation".

Europe needs to mobilise much more than €315 billion to embark in the transformation of its economy, create millions of jobs, create new business opportunities and create a genuine post-carbon society, said Jeremy Rifkin in an interview with EurActiv.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday (2 March) expressed her support for the European Commission's €315 billion investment push, but stressed the plan must be accompanied by reforms and austerity measures among eurozone countries. EurActiv Germany reports.

Turkey, Algeria, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and “other potential suppliers in the Middle East and Africa” were named in yesterday’s (25 February) Commission communication on Energy Union. EurActiv understands that Iran and Iraq is also part of the Commission’s long-term thinking, as it searches for alternative suppliers of gas to Russia.

It is essential to mobilize all citizens around the energy transition in which the world is engaged and required to adopt common measures to keep the increase of temperature below 2°C. The release of the Energy Union package by the European Commission is the first major step in the European wide debate to give life and to create public support to this challenging project, write Jacques Delors, Sami Andoura and Jean-Arnold Vinois.

Renewable energy sources are on the rise in Germany, with wind power continuing to play the most important role. But a current study reveals the potential of renewables is far from being fully exploited. EurActiv Germany reports.